I tried to go to sleep around midnight and had trouble falling asleep worrying about the trip ahead. I had packed everything but was thinking about Akvila and how she would do and how hard it would be. I finally fell asleep about 2:30 AM or so and had to be up at 4 AM. The alarm went off and I reached for it and Akvila stirred and looked at me and fell back asleep. I went in and woke up my mom and started to get dressed. We were making some noise getting everything together and Akvila woke up. She went potty and then I took her clothes to her and she was still half alseep and trying to dress herself, she finally let me help. We finished getting dressed and got her baby doll dressed and proceeded to get the luggage out the door. She was smiling through very sleepy eyes.
We went downstairs and I tried to leave her with Grammy to unlock the courtyard door to the apartments and she didn't want me out of her sight. So when I got down with the last bag Grammy went and unlocked the door and the taksi pulled up. I ran the keys back upstairs and then we loaded up the luggage in the taksi. One of the women from the law office came in the taksi to help get us to the airport. Akvila rode in the taksi next to the window and staired out the whole way not saying much.
We got to the airport and got in line to check in. Akvila just stood there patiently while we checked bags and got our boarding passes. We proceeded through security and she put her coat and baby in the bin to go through to get their picture taken in the xray machine. We proceeded toward our gate and I went to get some coffee. I got her a bottle of water and she didn't want it. She was looking out the window at the airport at all the little trucks and the airplane sitting at the gate. She kept saying that ours was a big plane and then she saw some others that were even bigger and realized ours was a little one. We did go for a walk through the terminal and went into a perfume shop. She was smelling some of them and I found a lotion tester and wanted to smell it. I squeezed it just a little and it squirted out in my face. Akvila laughed and so did the clerk. We walked across the hall to another shop and she looked around a little and was ready to go back to the gate. We went back over there and she played around a little and kept asking questions about leaving Lithuania.
We boarded the plane and she was watching out the window at the people and vehicles that were prepping the plane. We backed out of the gate and headed for the runway. I tried to explain to her what would happen. When taking off she did not say anything, she just kept staring out the window. I was not sure if she liked it or hated it. After about 30 minutes she started talking again and asking questions. She was fine. That flight was short and she was still sleepy. We got to Amsterdam and had to go though the airport to another terminal. They have the moving sidewalks and escalators. She loved both! we got through the airport and to the gate for our next flight. There was no place to sit so we sat on the edge by the window, she had her baby doll in her hands. There was a little girl about 2 years old that walked over and tried to take her baby doll. I giggled and so did Akvila, the little girl did not think it was so funny and started to cry. We moved a few minutes later because Grammy found some chairs. We got on the big plane and got settled in. Again she watched intently as we took off. She fell asleep shortly after and slept for about 2 hours. While she was sleeping they served lunch. I saved hers for her. When she woke up she did not want to eat. It was not until about 2 hours later that she would eat anything. About half way though the flight that I started to get stressed out, she was spilling things and had ants in her pants. I tried to walk her around the plane but she kept wanting to go back to her seat. She was still tired but was fighting sleep the rest of the way. She kept wondering where we were so I showed her on the flight map where Lithuania was and where America was and showed her where we were going. I told her we had to take 3 planes to get to daddy. On the decent she started making faces and said her ears hurt, I told her to drink water and this helped. So we landed in Detroit and got to passport control/immigration and there was a huge line. So we got in line and waited. She was pulling around her little roller backpack and there was a baby behind us in line and she kept looking at the baby. We were talking with some other people that were waiting and this helped pass the time. It took about 2 hours to get through this process. She was very antsy but was pretty good all things considered. When we finally go to the front of the line we went and checked in and started our paperwork. We were then directed to the secondary immigration area. We had to wait there for about 15 minutes until they processed her and stamped her passport which meant she was now a US citizen.
We then proceeded to baggage claim and found Grammy who had already gotten our luggage off the carousel. We wheeled the cart toward customs. The customs line was short and we got through quickly. We then went through security again and headed toward our terminal. This is where we had to separate from Grammy, we stopped and gave her hugs and said bye bye. Akvila and I went one way and Grammy another. We stopped in a shop to get some drinks and then walked to the gate. I sat near the windows and she looked out at the planes. She saw several planes take off and told me to look each time and she got excited seeing them. I told her that we only had one more plane until we would see daddy. I hoped she would nap on the flight.
We left Detriot and were on our way home. She was dozing in and out but would not let herself sleep, I leaned her against me and she dosed for a second and when she realized this she woke up and sat up straight in her seat. She played with some toys and look around at all the other people sleeping. We landed a little while later and as we were taxiing to the gate she was dozing off again. I was worried she would fall asleep and with the carryon baggage there was no way I could carry her, but as we parked she woke up and walked with me. We picked up the carryon and then went to the potty and headed for baggage claim. When we got to the bottom of the escalator Wayne was waiting. Akvila was looking back up the escalator and had little or no reaction to seeing wayne because she was sleep walking at that point. She tripped getting off the escalator but did not fall. We grabbed our bags quickly and headed for the car.
I expected her to fall asleep any second but as we were driving she was looking around and then started to smile. When we pulled up to the house her face lit up. We parked and got out and went into the basement door. She saw her little playhouse and was so happy. I rang the doorbell and she went inside. After a few minutes we headed upstairs and I showed her the bedroom we had decorated for her. She was all smiles. She hugged me and looked around at all the stuff we had gotten her. We showed her around the rest of the house and she ran around looking at everything. I could not believe she was still awake and alert.
Around 7:30 we sat down to watch Shrek and she was dozing. She laid down with her head on my lap and I thought she had gone to sleep. I tried to move a little and she started to giggle. She then sat up and when I told her it was time to go to bed she said no but we came up to the bedroom anyway. Wayne put Shrek on up here and she laid down with me, in a matter of minutes she was out for the count.
I have to say she has just done so amazingly well. I am so thankful for that and for all the friends and family that have been praying for us. I can't believe my daughter is home!!!
Welcome home, Akvila! :-)
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